Corporate Data Asset Disclosure and Annual Report Tone Management

Abstract

Against the backdrop of corporate digital transformation, this study focuses on the strategic value of data factors in corporate operations. Using A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2012 to 2023 as the research sample, we construct a corporate data asset indicator and empirically examine the relationship between the extent of corporate data asset disclosure and annual report tone management. The findings reveal that corporate data asset disclosure encourages executives to engage in annual report tone management, primarily through three mechanisms: exacerbating corporate performance volatility, increasing transaction costs, and intensifying earnings management. Heterogeneity tests indicate that the positive effect of data asset disclosure on tone management is more pronounced in high-tech enterprises, firms with higher financing constraints, and those where executives have an information technology background. The conclusions not only expand research on the economic consequences of data asset disclosure but also provide empirical evidence for regulators to emphasize the economic transmission effects of data elements and the textual characteristics of disclosures, thereby contributing to the improvement of corporate data governance systems and disclosure supervision mechanisms.